


Finding Henry Hidgens

by existencialvoidofexistence



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: High School AU, M/M, Soulmate AU, mentions of abuse, tedgens, trans hidgens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-01-23 11:04:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18548494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/existencialvoidofexistence/pseuds/existencialvoidofexistence
Summary: Join Ted as he manouveres through love, life, and education.





	1. Starting afresh

Ted pulled the kahki sleeves of his shirt further down his wrists, being sure to cover the bruises that littered his arms and took a breath, before stepping over the threshold of his hew school. Again. After finding the reception, he was introduced to a tall boy with dark hair by the bespectacled brunette who worked there. Paul was his name, if he remembered correctly.

He quickly stuck his hand out for the other teen to shake. “Ted Richards.”

paul seemed confused, but took his hand and shook it firmly. “Melissa gave you your schedule right?”

Ted nodded curtly, showing it to the other boy, who took it, scrunching his brow as he compared the paper to his own.

”It looks like you have bio first with me. We should probably go now, we’re already late.”

Paul dragged Ted through the corridors by his wrist, leaving him to hide a grimace at the increased pressure on his already sore skin. When he was finally released Paul introduced him to the class, which he scanned briefly, giving a small wave. He quietly followed Paul to a seat at the back of the room, watching awkwardly as he kissed a dark-haired girl on the cheek, before sighing inwardly with relief when she offered to sit with another friend. The two boys sat together silently, Ted’s left elbow knocking constantly against Paul’s right as the two attempted to take notes. Ted’s thoughts wandered to a pretty white-haired girl at the front as the curly-haired teacher spoke. Wait, _pretty?_  Ted didn’t like girls. What gives?

He shook his head and turned his attention to Paul, who had the name Emma Perkins scrawled across his right wrist, a fact which he displayed with pride. That must be the brunette from earlier, Ted mused, looking towards her and the shy-looking redhead beside her. He quickly turned his gaze back to his paper, rubbing the delicate writing across his own wrist thoughtfully. He sighed mournfully as he remembered how, at 13 years old, he had rushed to show his parents the name that was branded across his skin, and the anger that followed as his father read the name Henry Hidgens from his skin. That had been the first and the last time that he had allowed anyone to see the delicate lettering which decorated his left wrist.

*****

Ted followed Paul and Emma to lunch, where he was introduced to what he assumed were the couple’s friends. Charlotte, the redhead from earlier, smiled softly and retreated into her sweater until her rosy cheeks were barely visible. Bill, a dark-skinned boy with a brilliant smile which on another day Ted might easily have fallen for sat beside them, the short sleeves of his button-down clearly displaying his blank wrists as he chatted quietly with the former. Ted had never seen that before, but then there were a lot of things Ted had never seen. Like a fish riding a horse. That’d be a spectacle.

Ted was dragged from his thoughts when the girl he had seen in biology was introduced as Anastasia. Her white pigtails curled delicately behind her ears, while a set of dark lashes framed sparklingly clear blue eyes. Her nose scrunched up as she waved excitedly, and Ted quietly made a mental note to re-examine his sexuality when he got home. Not that it mattered of course, he had a soulmate out there whom he was _pretty sure_ wasn’t named Henrietta. Ted chuckled to himself before tuning back into the conversation.

*****

Ted walked through the door of his house to the familiar clanging of his mother cooking, and quietly slipped his shoes off before walking to hug her from behind.

”Hey mama.”

The woman smiled softly, turning to embrace her son. “Hey Theodore. How was school?”

Ted shrugged. “Could’ve been worse. I take dad’s not home.”

”Not yet sweet, now you wanna tell me how it went?”

Ted sighed, before recounting the day to his mother. He made sure to emphasise the parts about Anastasia in the knowledge that a somewhat edited version of events would reach his father, and that the information about the pretty girl may well save them both a lot of trouble.


	2. Better fake than never

A few weeks after his arrival to the school Ted was beginning to feel more comfortable around his new friends. Enough so that when Charlotte needed help dealing with some shithead stalker who was just a _little_ too like his father for Ted’s comfort, the boy had a plan.

”we should fake-date!”

The group stared at him in shock,

”...Ted....What...”

”What, it’d work alright.”

Charlotte giggled. “Still sounds like a bad cliché. Promise you won’t... fall in love with me or anything.”

Ted placed his hands firmly on her biceps, and stooped slightly to look her in the eye. “Char. I love you. But I am gay as all hell that won’t be a problem.” He patted her gently before releasing her, whatever _that_  was with Anastasia long since written off as a mixture of comphet and him never really having a best friend before.

The girl giggled and nodded. “I’ll do it.”

******

Ted and Char’s “relationship” had gone a lot smoother than anyone anticipated. Sam had eased up a lot on her, so Charlotte was able to really come out of her shell, confiding in Ted in ways no-one had before. Like how her and Bill’s youngster sisters were soulmates, and how, like bill, Char had no name adorning her wrist.

Things got a lot easier on Ted’s end too. His father was all too happy to hear him say “fuck soulmates” and tell them he had a girlfriend. A little too happy.

Which is why Ted was now stood on his own porch, holding her head to his chest and running his fingers through her red curls in a way which he hoped was comforting. Soon Ted’s mother was at the door, ushering the two inside. Thankfully his father hadn’t arrived yet, else he thought Char might have an actual breakdown. Plus she already knew about the ploy, so there was no need to fake infatuation _quite_  yet.

*****

Looking back, ted supposed the evening had gone quite well. His mother had really taken to Charlotte, releaved that her son finally had a close circle of friends that she finally got to meet, and his father had been placated by the thought that Char was real, and that Ted might actually be on the turn. As if. Plus, the whole “meet the parents” thing gave a lot of credibility to the lie.

On the downside, he had to visit her family soon, and while they seemed like pretty decent people - at least based on how Char and Deb turned out - he really didn’t want to leave his mother at home alone any longer than necessary.


	3. Picture perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s not actually a chapter but I drew some sweet babies for you have Charlotte and Anastasia


	4. Meeting the family

Ted soon found himself perched on the low wall that marked the boundary to the Mayweather’s house, watching as Char paced across the driveway, cigarette hanging from her fingers. Every time she faced him Deb would pull increasingly bizzare faces across the tarmac. A challenge obviously.

Ted retaliated, and the two continued to battle when Char's back was turned, a game which ended only when Ted yielded to an especially hilarious expression of his opponent's and let out a loud and  _particularly unattractive_ snort. It earned him an affectionate clap to the back of the head, but Char too seemed a lot more relaxed to see him getting along with her sister.

A short time later Ted was crushed beneath the weight of not one but  _two_ Mayweathers. Char had sat on his lap, her arms around his neck and his around her waist to anchor her in place, and Deb, to her sisters amused frustration, had quickly scrambled on top. He was feeling slightly suffocated by the girls' cigarette fumes, but he didn't have the heart to make them stop. Thankfully they both did rather abruptly once a car, assumedly their parents', pulled into the driveway. Both cigarettes were quickly and  _"subtly"_ ground into the floor.

*****

Dinner with the Mayweathers went about as well as could be expected. That is to say that all the usual questions were asked - at least Ted assumed they were usual, his dating experience currently consisted of a handful of shitty rom-coms he only half watched and a few (brilliant, if you ask him) performances as Romeo of Shakespeare's classic - and Deb proceeded to laugh into her fist at every  _slightly_ panicked improvisation, the little shit. 


	5. Scripts and stores

_If music be the food of love, play on;_

_Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,_

_The appetite may sicken, and so die._

_That strain again! it had a dying fall:_

_O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,_

_That breathes upon a bank of violets,_

_Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:_

_'Tis not so sweet now as it was before._

_O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,_

_That, notwithstanding thy capacity_

_Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,_

_Of what validity and pitch soe'er,_

_But falls into abatement and low price,_

_Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy_

_That it alone is high fantastical_.

Ted flipped through his script, one leg thrown across the arm of the creaky rocking chair on which he sat. Emma was sat by his feet... well, foot, leaning on the base every time he spoke in an attempt to catapult him off. She was yet to succeed, but she was pretty determined so he was sure she'd get there eventually.

Anastasia sat - no, lay - across from Ted, her lips moving silently and one hand gesturing wildly as she skimmed the bundle of papers in her hand. She nearly hit a slightly disgruntled Bill a couple of times, the boy having accepted his fate and allowed her to slowly crush him. The ingignant squeaks the white-haired girl in his lap was producing every few minutes indicated some form of retaliation, though from his expression it was hard to tell.

Ted landed on the floor. Well... on Emma really but she deserved it so fuck you.

*****

Eventually, with scripts read, conversation returned to the group. Conversation about some halloween party Anastasia was hosting. Ted guessed if he said Char was the one that asked he'd be able to go, though he'd need to buy himself a costume and find somewhere to change - no entry without apparently.

By the time Ted zoned back into the conversation it had long since moved on, and Bill was now recounting the story of how his and Char's sisters met. He wasn't sure how Deb would feel about that, as it sounded pretty embarrassing from what he could tell, but she wasn't here so who cared.

*****

Thankfully Char had agreed to "invite" Ted to the party, and the pair had even gotten permission for him to stay at the Mayweather’s overnight. Which led them to where they were now. Costumes.

The two had separated a few minutes ago, giving Ted a chance to inspect a few bruises that were forming under his skin in the mirror of a crappy (heh) public bathroom. 

With an idea in mind he strided through the mall, carefully selecting things from the shelves. With everything prepared, he stalked to the dressing room and tried on the bundle of clothes in his arms, inspecting every angle before returning them to the hangers and carrying them to the till. After paying for them and a spare container of stage makeup, just in case, Ted went to meet Char. 


End file.
